


His Name is Kaito

by KatsuraNa



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Fluff, Gen, Plushies, if we met earlier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:22:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27498643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatsuraNa/pseuds/KatsuraNa
Summary: Akira tells the story of how a friend he met as a child gave him his favorite plushie.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro & Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	His Name is Kaito

“Hey Akira? I’ve been meaning to ask.. Where did that plushie come from? You always carry it around.”

The high school student had been studying, when his cat interrupted him. He looked over at the question, debating on how to answer it. The plushie in question sat on the desk next to his homework. A raggedy old dog from when he was a child, stitched up more times than he could count. He wouldn’t let him die though, that little dog meant the world to him.

“His name is Kaito, Morgana..”  
“You..named it?”  
“Him.”  
“You named him?”

Sorta. He and the boy that had given it to him had come up with a name together. They had argued for a good hour before coming up with a name to agree on. Kaito was a fluffy brown dog with a lopsided smile and floppy ears. A typical toy for a young child. But Akira had carried it with him since childhood, and didn’t plan on stopping now.

“He..was a gift.”  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Akira was a lonely child. His parents were never around much, always working hard to make enough money for the family. He had just accepted he’d have to learn to take care of himself quickly, making his own food and cleaning the house so his parents didn’t need to worry about it.

Akira was an independent child, only having himself to rely on. His teachers admired it, his classmates, however, did not. They saw him as stuck up and a teacher’s pet. This led to Akira not having any friends in the small neighborhood he lived in. During school days, that was fine. He didn’t have much free time anyways, between schoolwork, housework, and cooking. 

When breaks came around though, like summer vacation, he felt the loneliness that he was able to ignore before creeping up on him. Without any homework to do, and no classes to attend, he was left alone in a large house with nothing to do.

During days like this, he found himself wandering the neighborhood. People ignored him, leaving him to do his own thing. He never found anything to do, but at least he wasn’t stuck in one space. 

Today was already a little different though. He had reached a small river bank, and noticed a kid around his age he had never met before. Had he just moved here? Was he visiting? Akira was never usually one to approach first, but..this kid looked lonely. Just like him. He wanted to help, if he could. And if he was ignored or told to go away? Well, it wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before.

He walked up to the boy and sat on the ground next to him, giving a small wave. The child looked surprised to see anyone around here, which wasn’t too surprising. This wasn’t a place people came often. 

“Uhm..hi! I’m Akira Kurusu!”  
“...h..hi..”

The child didn’t seem keen on giving a name, well that was fine. At least he was talking to him! This was further than he’d ever gotten with making friends. He pulled out a little cat figurine he carried in his pocket, the only toy he really had. 

“..Do you wanna play? There;s not much to do..uhm..there’s a park nearby!”

He didn’t think the kid could look even more surprised than he already did, but Akira was proven wrong. He looked at the little cat in shock, like no one had ever offered to play with him before. Maybe they were more similar than he realized. He stood up quickly, offering his hand to the other boy.

“Come on! It’s this way..”

Akira almost gave up when the boy didn’t react. Maybe despite their similarities, the boy didn’t want to be friends with..someone like him. Just when he was about to put his hand back down, the child grabbed it, giving a small smile. It was a nervous smile, like he didn’t believe what was happening. That was how Akira felt when he was given the cat toy..

“W..well let’s go!”  
“Yeah..sounds like fun..”  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Akira was ecstatic! He had made an actual friend, someone who played with him all day until lunch time. The boy he was with looked sad that they might have to part ways, but Akira offered him lunch, and they agreed to hang out all day!

The boy went back home to grab something, at least that was what Akira assumed. When he arrived at Akira’s home, he had a small toy in his hand and a bigger smile on his face. He looked adorable when he smiled like that!

He served them lunch and they sat to eat, talking about random things. Shows they enjoyed, how much school sucked, and Akira's favorite, their toys! Akira talked about his little cat, a gift from his parents when he had made straight A’s the first time. He no longer got gifts for it, but he kept trying just in case. 

His new friend talked about the toy he had brought, a fluffy dog given to him by his mom. He had other toy’s from her, but he kept them hidden so no one could take them. The dog was the one he slept with though, so he kept it out. Luckily, the other kids he lived with though a plushie was too childish, so they never tried to steal it from him.

Oh, so the kid had siblings? Akira thought maybe he’d be less lonely that way, but he guessed family was the same as the kids at school. His parents were never around, so maybe the boy's siblings weren’t either. He tried not to think about that as he cleaned up their lunch, deciding today was only going to be fun!

He took his new friend up to his room to play, it was too hot out now to go back to the park. As they played, Akira posed a question.

“Hey..what’s his name?”  
“Who?”  
“The dog! Duh!”  
“He..doesn't have one..”  
“What!? No way! Then we have to name him!”

It took some convincing, but he eventually agreed to think of names for his doggie plushie. Akira thought it would've been easy, but they argued over every name! They just could not agree on a name that suited the fluffy dog.

An hour and much screaming later, Akira finally came up with the perfect name. 

“Kaito!”  
“..huh?”

He expected more arguing, and tried to come up with a reason for why this name was absolutely perfect, but instead he just got a soft reply of, “I like it..”

So it had been decided. The dog’s new name was Kaito! The boys looked at each other and burst out laughing, both of them able to acknowledge how silly it was to argue over a plushie's name. With the name out of the way, they went back to playing.

Unfortunately, it did become late eventually. The boy looked outside and sighed, noticing it had become dark. He needed to get home soon, Akira figured. Just before the boy could leave though, he handed his toy over to Akira with a hesitant smile.

“Keep him..for the night. You’re my first friend..so I want you to spend the night with him!”

If Akira had been any older, he would’ve seen the pain behind his friend’s eyes, but instead he was a young naive child. He smiled and hugged the dog closely, giggling happily. He nodded, walking the boy to the door and watching as he headed down the street back home. He was looking forward to another playday tomorrow!

...but he never came back.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Akira..”  
“I don’t know what happened..but I think he moved that next day. Or he was just visiting and didn’t want to tell me.. I still miss him sometimes.”  
“I’m sorry..”

Akira wanted to explain it was alright, that it didn’t hurt knowing the first and only friend he made as a child disappeared suddenly. He only left behind the dog, and happy memories of a playdate. He’d be lying, but he wanted to reassure Morgana that he was alright.

He didn’t get a chance however, as footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. Right, he had invited Goro Akechi over to teach him some video games and maybe try some more chess. He quickly tried cleaning up his homework and books, forgetting about the dog sitting on the desk.

When Goro had reached the attic, he laughed and rolled his eyes at Akira frantically trying to make his room presentable. He moved to help, noticing the small plushie on the desk.

“..okay listen I can explain!”

“..Kaito..?”


End file.
